Vulcan Refurbishment About To Start

It has been announced by the Newark Air Museum that in early June they will be embarking on another ambitious restoration and repainting project; this time on Avro Vulcan XM594. This work will be carried out with major support of the aircraft’s owners, the Lincolnshire’s Lancaster Association.

As with similar repainting work on the Avro Shackleton, a scaffolding work platform will be used and this will be installed around the tail of the Vulcan. This will allow the de-corroding, rubbing down and repainting of the fin and rudder to be carried out in a safe and efficient manner. It is anticipated that some panel fabrication work may also take place in situ, with work being carried out by a team of museum volunteers.

Whilst the scaffolding is in place investigation work will also take place into the condition of the spine panels on the centre section of the upper fuselage. The aim of this investigation is to assess the scope of any future restoration work that is required on this part of the airframe.

The museum anticipates that the scaffolding structure will be in place throughout the summer and whilst being photogenic it will help with the log-term restoration of the aircraft.
Avro Vulcan XM594 was flown to the former RAF Winthorpe airfield from RAF Waddington on Monday 7th February 1983. At the time XM594 was the only Vulcan aircraft disposed of by the RAF that was flown into a non-licensed airfield.